Rim for vehicle-wheels.



R. S. BRYANT.

RIM FOR VEHICLE WHEELS.

APPLICATION man NOV. 20. 1912.

1,201,551 Patented Oct. 17, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD S. BRYANT, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE STANDARD WELDING GOMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

& RIM FOR VEI-IICLE-WHEELS.

Specification, of Letters Fatent.

Patented Oct. 1 7, 191 6.

Application filed Novemllcr 20, 1912. Serial No. 732,501.

1 b all whom it may concern lie it known that I, Riemann S. BRYANT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of (luyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rims for Yehicle-Wheels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to vehicle wheels and particularly to wheels having wire spokes. In wheels of this type, as is well known, the practice is to secure the inner ends of the spokes to a suitable hub in any convenient, tension resisting manner, and to thread the outer ends of the spokes to nipples rotatably secured in the rim. The spokes are all held under tension, wherefore the rim is obliged to support not only the tension of all of the spokes, but also the weight of the vehicle, f cm the fact that with a wire spoke wheel, the hub is at all times suspended from the upper part of the rim through the agency of the spokes above the hub, rather than being propped up from the lower part of the rim through the agency of the spokes beneath the hub, as is the case in wooden wheels. Accordingly the nipples are made hollow and the ends of the spokes are allowed to protrude therethrough during the assembling of the wheel and are finally cut or broken off beyond the ends of the nipplw before locating the tire on the rim. The ends of the spokes must therefore be covered with some sort of a shielding plate prior to locating the tire on the rim so as to prevent the abrasion or tearing of the latter by the jagged ends of the, spokes.

The objects of this invention are the provision of a rim for wire spoke wheels which can be readily rolled from standard flat sheet steel and that shall have great strength and thickness combined with light Weight; the provision with a device of this character of a liner or shield of simple and easy manufacture; the provision of a combination of liner and rim which shall serve to strengthen each other in a material degree, thereby permitting each to be made of .lighter metal than has heretofore been possible,- the provision of a rim of less total thickness than wire spoke rims hitherto de vised; while further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Generally speaking, my invention may be defined as consisting of the combinations and construction recited in the claims hereto annexed and illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application, wherein:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a portion of a wheel having a rim constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view oi said rim, showing part of the spokes and nipples; Fig. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the rimtaken through the valve stem aper ture; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view through the rim showing a portion of the tire in place thereon, and the valve stem located in its aperture; and Fig. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view of a modified form of rim.

In constructing a rim according to this invention, I take a strip of sheet steel of the proper gage and of a slightly greater width than the completed rim and then circle the same and weld its ends together so as to form a complete ring. At a slight distance inside of each lateral edge of said ring, I then roll a groove or gutter, each of said grooves or gutters being concave outwardly and form by embossing or corrugating inwardly the metal of the rim. These grooves or gutters are indicated at 1 and 2 respectively in Figs. 2 and 3, and are separated by av centrally-disposed, fiat-topped ridge 3. Supposing that the groove 1 is to lie at the inside of the rim, the portion of the metal between this groove and the adjacent edge of the ring is now turned outwardly as at 4 to form a flange, this flange being separated from the adjacent edge of the move 1 by a ledge or shelf 5, preferably su stantially level with the top of the ridge 3. The metal at the opposite side of the rim is also turned outwardly as at 6 so as to form an outturned flange and between this second flange and the groove or gutter 2 is formed a second ledge or shelf 7 of less height than the shell 5 and intermediate in. height be tween the bottom of the groove or gutter 2 and the top of the ridge ll. The edge of the flange 6 may project slightly beyond the top of the ridge 3 but not to so great a height as the flange 4, for a reason to be herein after described. The bottoms of the grooves or gutters 1 and. 2: are preferably wide and rounding as :ihown in Fig. 3 and are formed with spaced apertures 10 receiving hollow, interiorlythreaded,,nipplcs it into which are inserted the outer ends of wire spokes 12. The ends of these nipples fiirthest from the hub are enlarged as shown at 13 so as to overlie the edges of the apertures 1.0 in tension-resisting engager.ent.

To cover the grooves or gutters and form a seat for the tire, I provide a split ring 15 of thin sheet metal, said ring having at one side the outwardly turned lip 16 adapted to engage the inner face of the flange l, and having at the opposite edge the inwardly turned lip 17 adapted to rest upon the shelf 7 between the flange (l and the edge of the adjacent groove or gutter. The bottom of this ring will therefore be supported at three points transversely of the rim, the shelf 5, the top of the ridge 3, and the shelf 7. The lip 17 is preferably slante-tl slightly outwardly as shown in l igs. and so as to form it. connection with the flange ii and. shell 7 an aminair gromc for the reception of the base portion 29 of a detachab'le flange "21, which flange can be secured in place by an y suitable means, such for instance that described and claimed in my copending application liled April 25, 1912 r erial No. (393,078. Briefly described this securing expedicnt consists in forming the flange 21 as a split ring. having adjacent to each of its ends an inwardly projecting lug 22 each of which is formed on its forward face with a projecting toe 23. The bottom of the flangereceiving groove is formed with an aperture or apertures for the reception ol' the e lugs and a suitable securing member suclv-as alatch ill is inserted between these toes and;

the inner surface of the annular n I her so as to prevent the withdrawal of i he vlugs i'rom their apertures. In the present embodliuent this securing member is shown as pivoted to the annular member, and as provided with an extended resilient handle 25 by nu-ans of which it is manipulated and re" tuini-d in pl-lce. A lloatiug ring .46 surround the opposite side of the split ring 15 and rests against the lip 16 to form a support for the pposite side of the tire. The ring Lab also binds the split ring 15 lirmly AlHH-i t e rim.

lfi r t .n? rclcplion oi the valve stem I pref i i-a d f rm the illZitt' .13 adjacent to one of its end.- with a hollow. inwardly-projecting, :zali l n pple 3W a hown in l iyjs. i and i, am :o; Mr idge portion 33 of the rim with an aperture 31. for the reception of this nipple. The abutting ends of the ring 13 are indicated at inFi". When the valve stem is inserted in the nipple it will be seen that the metal plate 34 with which the valve stem is usually associated will overlap the joint 32 so as to prevent the inner tube from becoming blown into thesame and pinched or otherwise injured thereby. It is obvious, however, that this joint could fall anywhere within the circumference of the wheel without departing from my invention.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated a modified form of rim which may in some cases be employed with good results. In this em-' bodiment the annular member is indicated at 3 and is formed adjacent to each edge with annular grooves or gutters 1" and 2 respectively. The groove 1- being at the rearward or inside edge of the rim, the metal outside of said groove is bent outwardly to form a flange 4. The grooves 2 being at the forward or outer side of the wheel the outer wall of the groove 52 is terminated substantially flush with the top of the member 3 as indicated at 6*. Thfln metal at each side of the mouth of the groove 1" is recessed to form seats f'r-5 in which is located a split ring 15". the outer surface whereof is preferably substantially liush with the outer surface of the member 3. The metal adjacent to the edges of the groove or gutter Q is also recessed as at 7"--'*'" to form a seat for the enlarged base 0 20 of the detachable flange 21 which may be secured in place in any suitable manner such as that above mentioned or by other expedients well known in the art. A floating ring 26 may be positioned upon the ring if? and against the flange 4 as in the preceding modification. The grooves or gutters and 2 serve to receive the nipples ll-ll as before. The seats 5" and 7 are similar in construction and function to the shelves 5 and 7 of the first embodiment.

It will be apparent that this rim comprises but a very small number of parts, that those parts are simple in shape and susceptible of rapid and economical manufacture; that their shape is such as greatly to increase their natural ragidity and that the relative arrangement and association of parts is such as to give added strength to all of them. It will be obvious, howbver, that many of the advantages of my invention can be attained by means of constructions dili'ering from those here disclosed, although the constructions here illustrated are those whiclrmy experience indicate as being the most practical.

While 1 have m-cessarily described my invention in detail l do not, therefore, propose to limit myself to such details except as the same may be positively included in the claims hereto annexed or may be rendered necessary by the prior state of the art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a rim for vehicle wheels, the combination with an annular member of shwt metal forming part of the wheel body; of a contructible transversely split band adepted to surround member; a continuous detachable ring adapted to surround said band and formed to engage one side of a tire; means on said member preventing lateral movement of said ring in an outward direction; and a second ring removably secured directly to said annular member and adapted to engage the opposite side of a tire located thereon.

2. In :1, rim for vehicle wheels, the combination with anannular member of sheet metal forming part of the wheel body; of a, contractible v transversely split band adopted to surround said member and of a width less than that of said member; a continuousidetacheble ring adapted to surround said hand and formed to engage one side of a tire; means on said member preventing lateral movement of said ring in an outward direction; and a. second ring remoyably secured directly to said annular memjeeting flange on its one edge her and adopted to engage the opposite side of a tire thereon, said second ring fitting between the oorresponding mlg'e of said bend and the adjacent w'lge of said member.

3. In =1 rim tor \eliivle wheels, the combination with. an :iinnilur Ztlulfilti' of sheet metal forming part of Elie wheel body, said member being formed \uith :1 radially pround with an en vim-ling depression or more along its; other edge; of contrnctilne split bend adapted to surround said member, said hand being of a width less than that of snid member end 1::- ing when in place against the flange thereon; a continuous detachable ring adapted to surround said hand and formed to engage one side of a tire, the flange on said member preventing lateral movement of said ring in an outward direction; and a second. ring removalily secured in the groove on the other edge of said member, said second ring fitting between the corresponding edge of said band and the outer edge of such groove.

In testimony whereof. I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

" RICHARD S. BRYANT.

W itnesses HAnoLn E. SMITH, BRENNAN B. Nns'r. 

